Seattle Central Creative Academy: Photography Assignment (Clear Glass)

To light this image of Stranahan Colorado Whiskey I used a giant soft box and placed two Profoto lights inside facing each other to blow out the background.  With two large black cards left and right of the bottle, the edges became defined.  Then with one Speedlite below and slightly in front of the bottle, which rests on plexi glass, I fired it to highlight the label.  One final softbox was placed directly behind the camera and raised to hit the bottle at a 45 degree angle.

There were four exposures composited in PS5: bottle, label, cap and pour.  To wrap it all up in post, the image was masked with a white background.

Location: SCCA Studios, Seattle, WA

Camera/Lens Specifics: Canon 5D Mark II with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Lens

100mm, 1/160 sec at ƒ/22, ISO 100, tripod mount.

Post: Adobe LR3 & PS5

Seattle Central Creative Academy: Photography Assignment (One Light Product Shot)

In the next assignment at Seattle Central Creative Academy, I had to create a product shot using only one tungsten source light.  With a white screen as backdrop and Desisti directly behind and overhead, I used a couple C-stands and arms to hold a wooden honey stick in place.  To camera right was a golden reflector.  To camera left a silver reflective cloth.  And overhead I covered myself and the honey stick in another screen clothe to create a tent.  Once the focus and lighting was perfected, I dipped the stick into a jar of honey and began snapping.  After roughly 1000 frames, with different focal planes and lighting arrangements, I stuck with this one.  Next, I brought in a friend to sit underneath the honey stick to pretend to catch the dripping honey.  The final image was a composite of the two created in Photoshop CS5.

Reflections: Next time I would have used more reflectors to bounce the golden light back to the honey, and I would have used a female model with red lipstick, instead the male model who was available.  Also, upon further reflection, the proportions are off with the lips too small against the large honey stick.  Otherwise, I enjoy the honeycomb lighting and the effect the shot creates.

Location: SCCA Studio, Seattle, WA

Camera/Lens Specifics: Canon 5D Mark II with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM

100mm, 1/8 sec at f/8, ISO 100, tripod mount, trigger fired.

Post: Adobe LR3 & Photoshop CS5